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Monday, October 24, 2011

The Witchcraft of Dame Darrel of York

As promised, but much later than I had planned, here are some images of the amazing book, "The Witchcraft of Dame Darrel of York". The original (which you can see images of in the book) was hand-written and illustrated by Charles Godfrey Leland, famous for his work "Aradia: Or, The Gospel of the Witches." That book was a compilation of various Italian Witch legends, stories, and spells as told to him by a mysterious figure who claimed to be part of an ancient Witch Cult of Diana. This book, "Dame Darrel," is a recreation of authentic English Witchcraft from the Middle Ages. While there wasn't a historical Dame Darrel, this book claims to reconstruct the workbook of people who would have been very much like her.

The book itself is beautiful. The first half is a reproduction of Leland's original hand-written, hand-illustrated work. The second part is a modern transcription, which is appreciated as some of the text was difficult to decipher. The book even has built-in ribbon markers so you can keep your place. It's a big, heavy, almost coffee table sized book and really does feel like an ancient tome. The spells and charms are very much like poetry, some resembling an old Mother Goose rhyme, which adds to their appeal. It's easy to see an old, story-book Witch using these things in a little cottage deep in the forest.

So, without further ado, the images!

The cover

The hand-written pages

Details of some of the illustrations

Images of the actual, original book

Ribbon markers

The transcribed pages

Sorry this took so long! I've been a bit unwell, not really been feeling up to posting. I'm working hard to rally for Samhain, though.